The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer recommends that Americans who test positive for the coronavirus stay home from work or school for five days. This is a major shift in policy after most of the country moved away from highlands. of the pandemic.
The new guidance aligns recommendations for coronavirus with other respiratory viral diseases such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.
The simplified guidance says that even if you don’t know which virus is causing your illness, you should stay home if you are sick and have symptoms and resume normal activities if your symptoms improve and you have not had a fever for at least 24 hours. Returning is recommended. without drugs.
People who are at high risk for severe illness and begin to feel unwell should seek medical attention immediately, officials said.
CDC officials said the change comes as the COVID-19 landscape has changed dramatically since the virus began circulating in 2020, when businesses and schools shut down and people stayed home. He said he was aware of it.
The agency said that while it remains a significant health threat, it is no longer the emergency it once was.
“Today’s announcement reflects progress in our protection against severe illness caused by COVID-19,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a statement. “But we still need to use the common-sense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses, including: That includes vaccinations, treatment, and staying home when you’re sick.”
Weekly emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have been declining since late December, and are down more than 75% since the peak of the first omicron wave in January 2022.
The virus is still killing an average of about 2,000 people each week, but the death toll has fallen by more than 90% since Mikron’s peak, authorities said.
In 2022, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 exceeded 245,000. Last year, that number was about 76,000.
Symptoms are an easy way to know when to take preventive strategies. These strategies, such as staying at home, can be implemented without getting tested, officials said.
At-home tests for COVID-19 are widely available, but most infections may go undiagnosed. The agency said less than half of people said they would get tested for the new coronavirus at home if they had cold or cough symptoms, and less than 10% said they would get tested at a pharmacy or medical institution. He pointed to a recent study. medical personnel; medical institutions;
The CDC last updated its quarantine policy in 2021, when it shortened the recommended period from the original 10 days to five days. The move was praised by business groups but criticized by labor unions and some public health experts.
Some health advocates also denounced Friday’s announcement as a move pandering to big business that goes against medical science. The CDC said it is putting the burden on employees, especially essential workers, to negotiate sick time to recover and try to avoid infecting others.
“The CDC is once again putting short-term business interests ahead of our health by bowing to employer pressure for coronavirus guidelines. This continues a pattern we have seen throughout the pandemic. ,” said Dr. Roberts, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the People’s CDC, a coalition of public health workers, medical professionals, and advocates focused on reducing the harmful effects of infectious diseases. Lara Girmanas said. COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection).
Gillmanus and colleagues at the People’s CDC said it’s inappropriate to treat the coronavirus like the flu. The new coronavirus is contagious even before symptoms appear, but this is not typical of the flu. There is no seasonality in the spread of the new coronavirus, and the number of infected people spikes multiple times a year.
The updated guidelines do not apply to healthcare settings, according to the CDC.
Other public health experts and officials said the new guidelines make sense because the message is simple.
“What we’ve seen is that this winter, the number of hospitalizations due to influenza has exceeded the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. So if people get infected with COVID-19, it’s only positive or negative. “I think it’s really important to be able to stay home when you’re sick and go out when you’re better, instead of thinking about it,” said David Margolius, director of public health for the city of Cleveland.
Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said the change is more practical than asking people to quarantine for five days.
“We make a lot of broad decisions in health care because we know how people behave,” Benjamin said. “Medicine is both an art and a science. In many ways, they [CDC] Follow the art elements of this. ”
Margolius said this change will be facilitated by the widespread availability of effective vaccines and treatments like paxlobid, as well as underlying herd immunity from past infections.
“We’ve always relied on what people choose, but I think we’re fortunate that at this point in time we can simplify the guidance because of the widespread availability of vaccine immunization and pre-prophylaxis,” Margolius said. he said.
Still, the CDC said the percentage of the population reporting vaccination for COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus remains low among children and adults.
As of March 1, only 22% of adults and 13% of children had received an up-to-date vaccine, despite data showing that vaccines provide strong protection against serious illness. Ta.
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